Reasons
by Nobody has no body
Summary: Aizawa Shouta feels like he has to prove himself, not to his father, not to himself, but to the world. But his first year at UA is going to be much more challenging than he first thought. Rated M just to BE SAFE. Partialy based on Areyouhumanyessir's Maizawa hedarcannons (From tumblr)


**Note: there will be an OC here, but she is not supposed to play that much of a big role. It is from Aizawa Shouta's POV, so he will refer to himself as 'Shouta.' The reason for Yamada's intelligence is his score (5/5) within the field -as it stands in the Wiki.**

 **Sorry that it isn't polished and read over as much, sorry for the parts that aren't soo good, and for the typos, but I really need to get this out there now.**

 **Much of what happens is based on** _ **Areyouhumanyessir**_ **'s Maizawa hedarcannons, check them out: tagged/maizawa**

 **Disclaimer: I do not lay claim to any of the characters or places mentioned.**

 **Reasons**

Shouta's father is by all means a good father. There isn't a trace of his mother during Shouta's childhood, not a single picture in the house, but his father fills both roles. He has an early happy childhood, but things become different when his quirk manifests. It not a powerful, flashy quirk, but it is useful, his father tells him. "It's not suited for a hero", he hears the teachers whisper, "You'll never be a hero", some of the other kids tell him blatantly.

 _The quirk is not a powerful one, but it certainly is a helpful one. I fear he might get stuck as a sidekick does he ever try to become a professional hero._

His father does not agree with the doctor, the teachers or the kids. He takes Shouta to the living room one evening, sits him down and says: "You can become whatever you want, so what do you want?" Shouta, only six years old at the time, takes a shacking breath, looking at his father, looking at a pro hero who believes in him, and says _**I want to become a hero.**_

"Then we will have to start training", is his father's reply. And they do; they work hard, together, through tough years, and in the end Aizawa Shouta harbours hard-earned skills in combat and a sharp mind.

Everybody was shocked to find out that a man with such a powerful quirk had a son with such a weak one, but Shouta doesn't care, he doesn't need a powerful quirk to become strong.

(…)

Before he knows it, it is time to enlist in high school, and he goes for Yuuei, the most prestigious school in the country. The entrance exam can only be taken by the 80% who possesses quirks, and even though Shouta is often looked upon as nearly quirk-less, he takes it.

The entrance exam has been the same for years, and will continue to be so for years to come. He applies for permission to take a rope with him, it is accepted and he joins the rest of his group. "A rope?" a tall girl asks. "It's to accompany my quirk." No more is asked, and when the doors open into the fake city, Shouta starts to execute his plan.

The first one to fall victim to his kill-steal is the same girl. She teleports, not all in one go, but gradually, although still fast. Where she disappears from, the air rushes in to take the place, and thus, small bangs and shock-waves are created.

She is almost done with a robot worth three points when he swoops in, erases her quirk, and swings his rope around the robot's neck. He pulls hard, the rope and metal-fibres in it digging painfully into his hands, but it works. The girl looks shocked and accusingly at him as he leaves the scene.

He does this for a couple of times without anything remarkable happening, he is currently at 12 points, with many people giving him irritated glances, then hurriedly looking at the building to the right, where something just broke trough. Debris and big chunks of concrete flies through the air, and a swarm of maybe six robots all ranging from 1 to 3 points burst through. Showing a boy to the ground and ducking himself, Shouta watches as the objectives flies harmlessly over his head.

People flock to the robots, beating both the robots and each other. Standing up, Shouta throws his rope onto a porch on the building right next to the one that was destroyed and starts climbing. He reaches the top just as a one-point robot hits the ground. All of them are being finished, one after another, and his chance is now. NOW.

The air rustles in his short hair as he lands in the middle of the bunch, one of the machines already wrapped in rope. He twirls the rope, and swings around the next one, then the third one. Like dominoes they fall to the ground, destroyed. He snatches another in front of a shocked student, and the last one, the only two-pointer, is taken out by a hash hit to the box which represents its chest by someone else.

One minute is left, but he isn't able to take out any more. He is sent home with sore, bleeding hands, and an undeceive mind.

(…)

Miraculously enough, he is accepted into Yuuei. If only because he stopped other students from getting too many points, and he did extremely good on the written exam.

His father, with his fragile bones, hugs him, pulling him tight against himself and crying tears of joy, because all the hard work was not for naught.

(…)

When he is introduced to his class, there is three people that stand out to him: the girl he met two times, who does not seem to bear a grudge, a boy who does, and another by who can only be describes as a loud-mouth.

The girl is Isawa Yuno, the bot staring angrily at him is Korosu Teno, and the loud-mouth is Hizashi Yamada. Isawa admits that she is shocked to find out that he made it, but not as much as one would expect, while Korosu both looks shocked and furious at Shouta being there.

Shouta isn't good at making acquaintances, but Isawa seems ok with him, so they talk sometimes.

They haven't come long into the school year when their first test arrives. Heroes vs. Villains.

Shouta is on the villain team, and Hizashi loud-mouth is on the hero team. The objective is for the heroes to acquire the 'hostages' from the villains, and returning them to a safe place. They are informed that the test will be repeated at the end of the term, to see how much they have learned.

Shouta is paired with a girl who has telekinesis, but who can only use it on objects that are standing totally still while she activates her quirk. They discuss, and decide that the best thing to do would be taking out the hero team before they arrive, but somehow they both end up hunting the heroes -ridiculous in Shouta's mind.

He walks around for a bit, but then a scream, at least five times louder than any normal scream echoes thorough the building. Shouta has to claps his hands over his ears to keep them from exploding, and even when the sound stops, he keeps them there.

The scream comes again, a loud "YEEEEAAAA!" Shouta presses his hands harder over his ears, but the sound finds a way in, and it fucking hurts, but the pest won't stop. Shouta feels his eardrums swinging more forcefully, and then he sees a mop of blonde hair and a mouth wide open.

Hizashi stops for a moment, looks at him with a look that tells Shouta the other doesn't know what his quirk is, and gets ready to make his ears bleed.

"I give up." "What?!" "I give up, you're too loud and it is annoying." A confused noise from the blonde, then it is quiet for a moment, Shouta is grateful. _What the heck are you doing?_ His partner screams in his ear. His head hurts. He takes out the device and throws it away, looking expectedly at Hizashi. "Aren't you going to put the bond on?" He blushes. "Of course I'm gonna do it."

The white strip of cloth is tied tightly around his wrist, and he is allowed to exit the building, but before he leaves, Hizashi says something that marks him on Shouta's radar: "You're really something else."

(…)

As soon as he reaches a toilet, he throws up, the sharp pain in his head caused mostly by himself, but also by the loud noise. (He is sleep-deprived)

(…)

 _Why the heck did you do that? Why are you even here?_ Are questions he is asked in the following days. Korosu accuses him of only taking up a spot someone useful could have had, but he ignores them. His partner was a little angry, they lost because of him, she says, but after a few days she doesn't bother him anymore.

It seems like very few people in his class respects him now, but not many actually does something about it. He sits with people at the lunch table, but never talks to them. Isawa seems to like him enough, but she has other friends. His father has told him to try and make some friends himself, so he does. He takes his plate and sits down beside Hizashi. Before the boy can say anything, he tells him he is only there to look at the cats.

Hizashi doesn't comment, but after a while he can't keep quiet anymore, especially when Aizawa keeps looking in his direction. "What is your quirk?" Shouta looks over. "I mean, you know mine, but I don't know yours. It seems like no one in class knows …"

"I haven't demonstrated my quirk in class yet, and my quirk doesn't work on machines." "There is rumours though, about it being something similar to your father's." Shouta's eyes widened.

"You know who my father is?" Hizashi looked away. "No, not really. I only recently heard about him, he is the one who can make things disappear temporarily, right?" "… Yea." Then: "I can make people's quirks disappear." "Oh, that makes sense, but, why didn't you just erase my quirk when we were having the villains vs. heroes fight?"

Shouta looks down on his food. "Because I couldn't take the loud noise. It made my head hurt." "Oh, yea. … I suppose it does that to people."

"With a quirk like that, it can only mean that you have a combination of your parents' quirks, or that you have your mother's. Or I suppose you could have some genetic mutation, so which is it?"

Shouta really didn't think Hizashi would be so observant. He thinks about how he should answer for a second, but finds no other way than the one he has always used. "I don't know. Don't know who my mother was." Hizashi claps his mouth shut, clears his throat halfway and then starts telling him about who his parents are.

By the end of lunch period, Shouta thinks he can say that he has a friend. That is later confirmed when Yamada offers to walk with him to and from school.

(…)

Korosu doesn't do much with his hatred, except coming with comments that are meant to offend Shouta, but doesn't. Hizashi though… Shouta has to take a firm hold of his shoulder to stop him from walking over and punching the guy. "I don't care." Hizashi looks at him, green eyes piercing. "Are you sure?" "Yes." "Are you _sure?_ " he repeats, a smirk forming on his face.

Shouta smirks back. "For now."

(…)

They continue to sit together, to talk. The talk about their classmates, their strongholds and weaknesses, about their quirks and about their families -but his mother is never mentioned again.

Isawa joins them from time to time. After a while, they all understand that they can help each other out. All of them have at least one class they're struggling with, and so they can have the others' back. Shouta tries to explain algebra to Hizashi (he can find the answer, but he can't keep trac of all his thoughts, so he always misses the proof that he understood what he had done on every exercise. Hizashi tries his best to teach Shouta English (it isn't going too well), the both of them has to help Isawa with her science -and in return she teaches them religion.

The two boys are not spiritual people by any means, so when it comes to exercises including 'why did x do that?' and 'what can x' faith lead them to choose here?' they struggle. Often they go off track (mainly because of Hizashi and his I-don't-wanna-do-homework attitude) and when that happens, it can be hard to go back -especially when Isawa is not there.

"Why do you want to become a hero?"

"We should be studying," Shouta interrupts before Hizashi can take it further, but Isawa (that traitor) seems like she wants a break.

"So I can protect people!" Isawa answers, her voice lacking any kind of doubt. Hizashi makes a face. "So normal! That isn't an interesting motive!" He cries. Isawa makes a fake offended expression. "Oh, then what is _your_ reason?" "Because I want to make it BIG!" "You're so egoistical!" "At least I'm not boring!" Isawa turns to Shouta, but he is still not ready to answer. "Ne, Aizawa, why did you enrol in Yuuei?"

Eyes widening, Shouta feels frozen for a moment, then lies through gritted teeth: "Same as you, to protect." "THAT'S SO CLISHEED!" "Shut up, that is what a hero is supposed to do! It's their job!" And Isawa raises her hand and karate-style hits Hizashi at the top of his head. "Itte! No, stop, don't do it AGAIN!"

(…)

"Tadaima."

"Shouta, I have something I need to tell you about." That is the first thing he hears when he enters his home. Shouta stops in the hallway. "Come into the living room, please." On unsteady feet, he walks into the room where his father sits, bowed back helping him hanging his head in shame.

With the elegance he now seems to always carry himself with, Shouta starts to ease himself down as he asks: "About what?" "I need to tell you about your mother."

As the sky falling down, Shouta plummets into his seat.

(…)

Unseeing, dry eyes staring at the cracked ceiling. This night is worse, he cannot get a wink of sleep, not even a minute. His brain is racing, faster and faster on a million different tracks. The push of circulating blood against his cranium hurts.

(…)

Together with his 'cold personality' and totally black costume, he has let his hair grow longer, still un-kept. The dry, red eyes and the circles under them doesn't really help either. He looks like a villain; he hears others say -and yet they still don't know about his mother.

(…)

The Yuuei sports festival is a big event that attracts many people. Family members comes to watch their young children show off, to cheer them on with smiles on their faces. Nobody knows yet, but this will be the last time Shouta's father goes out in the public.

Yuuei is a strictly hero-school, where each year has three classes. In each class, there is 20 students, so in all there are 180 students competing. Through psychical tests they manage to shorten the list to 60 students. Seventeen of them are first-years, including Shouta, Yamada and Korosu. When it's announced that the last competition will be a tournament, Shouta couldn't possibly imagine a more hate-filled smile from Korosu. Unfortunately for him, Korosu will not be fighting against Shouta.

Three fights will take place at the same time, then, when the first round is over, two, then one and one. Hizashi is surprisingly upbeat about the whole ordeal, and he smacks Shouta on the back and says "Good luck", with a big smile on his face.

One could say Shouta was once again in luck with who he has to fight in the first round. A big guy with a confident smirk looks don on him the moment they stand face to face. "So you're the flea I get to crush today –so fun!"

Shouta looks him over, but sees nothing, most likely not a mutant. They are all introduced, and then the alarm goes off, and before he can even think, Shouta is dodging oncoming spikes that the guy shots from his entire arms. Some of them pierces the stadium ground, others break upon impact. He looks confused when they stop shooting from his body, and Shouta faintly hears the audience starting to bicker and shout when they see him running towards his enemy.

The man takes half a step back, but his stance is firmly planted in the ground when Shouta's boot hits him squarely in the chest. Shouta jumps back, expecting the man to fall backwards, right out of the arena, but he remains standing. He has already blinked, hair falling over his ears again.

He jumps backwards as spikes prices the ground where he stood. _Is he trying to kill me?!_ Dodge, dodge, jump. Then his hair stands up. His 'scarf' (as Hizashi calls it) lies perfectly in his palm. Once again he runs forward. His weapon is already tangled around the guy, and Shouta pulls with all his might and the force from his sprint. The guy goes toppling out of the stage, landing a meter and a half below, right beside the stairs.

"On arena number one, Aizawa Shouta has won!"

A man comes to check on the spike-guy, while Shouta watches from above.

It isn't long before the last winner is announced, and as Shouta looks up at the screen, he sees who he is going to fight next. He doesn't smile, but he feels very warm on the inside.

(…)

It's almost comedic the way Shouta sees his hair before he sees Hizashi's face when they enter the arena. Hizashi smiles at him, and almost hidden by his scarf, Shouta smiles back.

He tries to focus: Hizashi knows his quirk, he knows his weakness, he knows what his 'scarf' is used for and that Shouta is good in close combat. On the other hand, Shouta knows everything about Hizashi and his quirk.

He imagens this will be like the American 'western'-movies Hizashi likes so much, where two people stands opposite of each other and they have to be the fastest to pull their gun, only now, it is about being first to activate their quirk.

"… On arena three we have first years Hizashi Yamada versus Aizawa Shouta! Now, let the battles begin!" Beep … Beep … BEEP

His eyes were already closed when the introduction came, so his quirk is activated immediately after the alarm goes off and his eyes open. Hizashi's scream is cut short, and Shouta is already closing in, his cloth wrapping around the other. He has to be fast, before anything happens, before Hizashi gets any ideas.

But it seems too late for that. Shouta sees the confidence in Hizashi's eyes, and as he prepares to take a sharp turn and throw Hizashi straight out at the side of the arena, he sees his smirk before getting a thick cloud of dust in his face.

He brings his weapon back to himself, stepping back fast. He gets a small glint of the other boy, before he feels Hizashi taking hold of his arm and throwing him around. He forces his eyes open, covering them with his hand and blinking dust out of his eyes. A short intake of breath, and then…

"YYYYYYYYEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAA!" Shouta feels like he could be blown away just by the sheer strength if it, but it's just sound. A sound that makes his eyeballs shake in their sockets, but still, just a horribly loud sound.

He wipes his eyes one last time, and stares at Hizashi. His takes a sharp breath as Hizashi comes at him, fist ready to strike. Shouta thinks about his father, sitting in the crowd and watching, about all the training. His foot shoots out, tripping Hizashi.

The other boy lands on top of Shouta ( _Wish we could stay like this_ ), Shouta places his hands on Hizashi's chest-plate and pushes him off, sideways. He blinks, then stares at the blonde intensely. Still crawling on the ground, he rams his shoulder into the other, pushing him towards the edge. Hizashi digs his heels into the ground, stubbornly, and reaches upward, taking hold of Shouta.

 _He is going to flip me out of the ring._ Shouta grabs him back, and just as Hizashi begins to bring him over himself, pushes upward. He has a gymnastics' body; someone will tell him later.

He lands on the edge, on his toes, and with all his strength, an intake of breath echoing in his ear, continues the circle, bringing Yamada over himself. Yamada looks at him as this happens, moth still open and ready to scream, but he closes it, only to open it again to let out all the air in his lungs when he lands on the ground.

Shouta remains on his toes for a moment, he hears the announcement, all the other comments lost to his ears, and then he stands up and walks down to Hizashi. The boy is slowly sitting up, and when Shouta sits down beside him, he still had the smirk on his face.

"You should really do something about your eyes," he says, and Shouta laughs and answers yes, yes he really should, but Hizashi should really do something about his technique.

His eyes are still sore when he fights the mutant. He really can't blame the soreness tough. He can't cancel out mutant-quirks, so, after running and dodging and trying to _trip_ his opponent out of the arena, he isn't so surprised when she grabs him by the ankle, and throws him across the _entire arena the two of them are fighting on_ and out the way he came.

The rest of the day is spent beside Hizashi and Isawa, talking, watching and laughing. Until they split up for the weekend, Hizashi jumping out of the seat he has occupied, leaving a proud father and his son.

(…)

Not many days after, the whole world knows about the Aizawa-family, and the scandal that _a professional hero_ was part of. Shouta's father becomes more closed-off and distant.

Had that one detail not been revealed, the public would have looked on the older Aizawa with pity instead of distrust, disgust and anger.

But reporters and media never stops digging for gold.

(…)

"Not suited for a hero" has changed to "a potential villain."

Shouta has never really been talkative with most of his classmates, he hasn't hung out with them, or exchanged numbers and addresses and such, but now they're outright avoiding him. They barely look at him anymore, but they talk a lot in the following days. Korosu looks at him like he didn't expect the Aizawa family to be worse scum than he originally thought. Isawa tries to hide it, but as if his eyes have developed a new power, Shouta sees how she looks at him with worry -not _for_ him tough.

Even some of the teachers treats him differently. They walk on eggshells around him -what they fear, Shouta doesn't want to think about it, but he does. Sometimes they go easy on him in class, or always pair him up with Hizashi in P.E. Others treat him as the students does, a milder version of what his father experiences.

The one person Shouta relied on not being affected, was Hizashi, and for the first few days, it seemed like he had trusted him too much (he is just like the children from the day-care, he will leave- doesn't want to hang out now that he knows-) but Yamada quickly returns to his old self; joking and making fun of Shouta in a friendly way. The world has shifted, but Yamada stands at the exact same place.

Their after-school-homework-lessons continue -even though Isawa doesn't meet up as often as she used to.

(…)

"What's in the bag?" Hizashi only smiles and tugs on Shouta's jacket. It has been about five minutes since Hizashi marched up to him, took his hand, and started dragging him across the school.

After a while, Shouta stopped, that time, Hizashi only grabbed his jacket instead and said it was a surprise. He hasn't let go, as if he is afraid that Shouta will run away if he lets go.

On both sides of the entrance to the school-grounds, there is grass and trees, Hizashi leads him under one of the trees, and opens his bag. He shoves his hand down there, and comes up with a pair of sunglasses. Shouta raises an eyebrow.

"Try them on!" Hizashi insists. "Why?" "We're gonna figure out if your quirk still works if you look through something." As he takes the glasses, he says: "Okay, but why?" The smile is going to break his face in half. "My, my, Aizawa-kun. Have you already forgotten what I did during the tournament? You're getting old."

"So you want to protect my eyes with _sunglasses._ " "That's right, we can't go around fighting villains together if you're rendered useless by the smallest piece of dust in your eye!" "I never said yes to fighting with you", he says, but he still puts them on.

"Can I try using my quirk now?" Shouta nods. "But be careful, if this doesn't work, I don't want to become deaf." The result is a low, but still too loud scream from Hizashi. He cuts it short himself. Shouta takes off the glasses, then presses a hand into his eye. Hizashi, used to seeing that specific reaction from Aizawa, reaches down again to bring up a new set of glasses, there ones made of plastic.

"I can't believe you didn't experiment with your quirk when you were young -I did it all the time!" "I did", Shouta answers, "I know that I have to see my target and that any part of them will do. I can't erase mutant's powers, and it doesn't work in a mirror." "But have you ever tried erasing your own quirk?"

"… No, that isn't possible." "Because it would create a paradox?" "Yes."

Hizashi breathes in. "Try with these ones anyways." This, sadly, produces the same result. "Are we done yet?" Even though Shouta is getting irritated, Hizashi seems to ignore that and instead gives him another pair of glasses. "This is the last one!" " _Shutter-glasses?_ " Hizashi seems incredibly amused.

"Whatever." He pushes them on and looks at the blonde boy. Shouta swears it is a miracle when a normal shout is all he gets. Folding them in his hands, his bad mood seems to have evaporated. "Thanks, but they won't keep dust from settling in my eyes. Small rocks, maybe, but not much more." "It makes it harder to see where you're looking tough, so maybe they will help." "Yea, thanks Hizashi."

"So, you're gonna wear them?" Then in an even quieter, playful voice: "You kinda looked cute in them." "NO!" But Shouta is even redder than when he was dragged out there, and the costume-makes soon get an order for a pair of prototype glasses.

(…)

It's the second Heroes versus Villains test. Shouta and Hizashi are on different teams, but also different groups. Everyone is looking intensely at the screen. A fight – a real fight has broken out between to students on the same team, their teacher has gone down to stop it after they wouldn't listen to her.

The TV isn't too big, and the pictures on it flickers and freezes constantly, but then it turns black. The next second, they hear a BOOM-sound, then feet and voices. Everybody turns -this is not teachers. Other students? The media? Everybody thinks 'villains', but that is just fantasies, it has never come true before, it's just a fragment of everyday imagination.

Then the door flies of its hinges. Many of the people scream. _They aren't ready for this._ Another scream; louder than the rest; of pain. Quirks are activated.

Shouta becomes super aware of what's happening. A mutant in front of him. Can't chancel quirk. To his right. Isawa, already hallway gone, eyes determined, but still afraid. To his left: blurry images of people, the villain before them isn't a mutant. …Isn't a mutant? He erases their quirk.

Behind him, Yamada.

Pain.

Red.

"SHOOOOOUUUTAAAAA!"

Pain.

Black.

…

…Blurry.

(…)

Yamada sees Aizawa wince at the sound. The room is small, and his voice reaches every corner of it. The sound pains his classmates, but he can't stop. The monster in front of him bends over. His heart is beating heavily in his chest, lungs shaking. The name flowing out of his mouth has lost all meaning, and sounds more like an animal's cry.

While everyone stands there frozen, he jumps over to Aizawa. He hears a BOOM and feels the air upon impact, but he doesn't have time for that. He almost hasn't moved, but he is already breathing hard. He screams again, not the upbeat 'YEEAAA' but an angry 'AAAAHH!'

The other boy is a heavy weight on his back, but when the other students start attacking too, it is easy for him to slip out the gigantic doors, especially when one of the villains pointing at them, freezes in puzzlement when their quirk won't work.

He gets into the hallway, and starts sprinting down it. Someone has to alert the teachers. The best choice would be Isawa, but Shouta is hurt and he cannot stay here.

"Shit." He realizes he is running the wrong way, and turns. They probably have guards at the entrance, so he can't go there -but it's hard to think when Shouta's blood is seeping down his back.

 _Oh God, oh God._ He needs to patch hum up, or at least look at the injury. Shouta could be bleeding to death right now -his blood is leaving a trail, he needs to stop it, and then get out, one way or another. _Shouta could die._

He jogs and runs and walks until he sees a door, it is slightly open, and after taking a quick look, he rushes in. Immediately he lies Shouta on the ground and looks him over. His eyes are open.

Taking of his scarf, he asks how Shouta feels. The other boy is breathing loud, wide eyes looking around. "I… I -dizzy." Yamada himself is panting. "Ok, are you hurt anywhere else?" Shouta just looks at him. Yamada stops his actions. He leans down, close to the other boys face. "Oi, Ss -Aizawa, does anything other than your head hurt?" Shouta swallows, then he shakes his head, stopping abruptly almost immediately.

"Ok, okay. Lay still." He has given up on ripping the scarf, and instead tries to rip off the arm of his costume. Shouta obeys, only small hisses and moans each time Yamada touches his wound.

Shouta's face is mostly covered in blood, new layers appearing every minute. Yamada doesn't know what else he can do other than stop the bleeding, but maybe he shouldn't, maybe he is only getting dirt and sweat into the wound, hurting his best friend (?) even more? If this ends up hurting him, will Shouta even talk to him again? Shit, shit, he can't think about it right now, if he doesn't concentrate, Shouta could die.

"Ah-ow!" "Sorry! Are you ok?" Shouta swallows and blinks. "Y-Yea." "Did I tighten it too much?" "I dunno..." This worries him even more. "We can't stay here for too long." Silence. "Aizawa, I'll have to carry you on my back again, is that ok?" "Mmhm."

It's actually harder this time. Last time, he hadn't known that Shouta was awake, and carelessly dragged him with him, but now he is more conscious about the wounds than Shouta seems to be.

He listens at the door, and when he hears nothing, he opens it, closes it behind him, and start jogging. He tries to think of a place to go, but only comes up with the idea to go up. Can he jump out a window, is there an emergency-staircase? Can he hide?

The power is out, so the corridors are almost completely black -except for the emergency exit signs. The villains can afford to turn on a light, but he can't, so he fumbles through the corridor, trying not to hit a wall.

"Aizawa?" "…" "Oi, Aizawa!" "Hmm..?" "Don't fall asleep." "…" "Shouta! Don't sleep, you can't!" He stops and shakes the figure lying against his back. "'m not." "Tap my shoulder so I know you're awake." He feels the slight pressure, and it would have been easier if he tapped harder, but Yamada doesn't want to stress his friend -all that matters is that he stays awake, especially with a wound like that.

It's quiet and quite dark -Yamada doesn't feel the tapping anymore. "Aizawa. Wake up." But there is no answer, Shouta is lying perfectly still. Yamada stops. "Aizawa!" Still no response. He sinks to the floor and slides the form off him. He takes his shoulders and shakes as hard as he dares.

"Shouta?!" Dark eyes barely open up to look at him. "Shouta?" But Shouta doesn't pay him any attention, his eyes are unfocused and the blinking slow. When the eyes stays closed, Yamada shakes him again. "Shouta, don't go to sleep!" He feels panicked. "Shouta?!" The other boy's head rolls from side to side, back to the right where he just looked, but as if he hasn't checked there yet.

(Is he losing Shouta, has he suffered brain damage, is it already too late?)

He reaches up to brush away at his eyes, and his headphones swings around his neck. Hurriedly he takes them off and puts them on Shouta's head. He has an old MP3 player in his pocket that he got after his grandfather. He finds the most noisy playlist he has, while never stopping his shacking, and puts it on.

Shouta would pr- is probably hating the music, but he will just have to bear with it. Yamada sees his eyelids flying up, and takes him onto his back again. Salty tears roll down his face, and he can't wipe them away anymore, his hands are busy carrying the person most precious to him.

"Please, don't die, Shouta", he whispers, "please don't die."

(…)

villains have reached the second floor; the door is laying on the ground. isn't an emergency-staircase. can't jump.

Yamada is absolutely certain of these things, what he isn't certain of, is that someone didn't spike the water he drank earlier. From the window he can see the roof of the neighbouring building, and there is something up there. He stands still, watching for a few moments, and then recognizes the colours of their suits.

Teachers.

Should he call out to then? No. Should he catch their attention? Wait here? Go to the roof? Shouta is breathing loudly in Yamada's ear -he will go to the roof.

In his excitement, he starts running. Everything is spinning. They're safe, he is safe. Shouta is safe. (Maybe he is not, maybe he will die. Did he get an infection from the bandage?)

He almost falls several times, and actually falls three times on his way up, but he has so much energy and so little time. At the top he hears voices, and even though he just wants to burst through the door, he stops, but no, these are voices he knows. He runs out, and he has never been happier to see the teachers. One buy one they're coming over to the building. It seems like they're trying to figure out as much as they can, and some of them are looking down to the entrance.

A chocked "Help!" is all he manages to say. He sinks to his knees and Shouta slides off him. As the teachers rushes to him, it actually gets harder to breathe, but several hours later, when he knows Shouta will survive, it gets easier. Only for it to get harder hours after that.

(…)

In the short time between Shouta waking up and the class being told, Yamada visit him in the sick wing. He will have to wear bandages for a while, and he won't be fully recovered until some time passes. That also means he can't read or watch TV continuously for a long time (at least in the start), but it's okay, he has Yamada there to entertain him -even if he has to get the wheels spinning it himself.

"Shouta is fine." "Sorry, what?" "You heard me." Yamada blushes. He is never going to admit it, but Shouta actually likes it when Yamada calls him by his first name.

"Then, from now on, I'm Yamada!" "No way in hell." "But, why?!" Maybe it's the injury, or maybe it's the painkillers, but Shouta also loves it when Yamada pouts, and smiles, and everything in between.

Then they're told what happened.

(…)

Their quirks were admirable, but their potential was zero. That is the only explanation as to why they were killed.

Why Isawa was killed.

(Why didn't she run?)

Only two other students died. 'Only.' He was allowed to attend her funeral, the whole class was. Almost no one in class cried during the ceremony, or when they read the names on the stones, or when they went home and returned to their 'daily life'. But very few didn't cry when they were alone in their rooms that night.

… _I didn't have her back._

(…)

It's biter and dry and if Shouta first is going to be kissed he doesn't deserve any better, even though this may be the best thing he has ever got.

(…)

The word is foreign in his mouth, but for his father he says it with the same sincerity as when he talks with Yamada. He freezes for a second, shoulders spent, then he turns around and looks as Shouta, (young, strong, independent) as if he hasn't really seen him before. _Maybe he hasn't_ , Shouta thinks, _he didn't think I was ready to know the truth_.

"Dad, I think you should hang up some pictures of mum."

(…)

They were visiting her grave when they see Korosu Teno kneeling there. Shouta doesn't ask why he is there, Yamada does. Korosu shoots to his legs and looks at them. He looks miserable. "Sorry, I'll leave." Yamada seems okay with that, but Shouta asks again.

"She didn't tell you, she was probably scared. We… we were…" and here his voice cracks and he looks down again. Swallows. Shouta has never seen him so vulnerable. "For over a half year, w-. W-we -" "OK", Shouta interrupts, because he understands. It had been partly Isawa's choice, and Shouta can't deny her that.

Korosu is shivering in the rain, but he stays there for a brief second. "Thank you." His voice cracks again, and he turns around and walks away fast.

Even though he is a little bit temped to throw them away, Shouta lets the flowers from before stay there, and puts his own in the opposite vase.

It almost feels as if Korosu just ripped open the healing wound.

(…)

He got accepted into Yuuei, survived the first year and made friends. Summer vacation has just started. He and Hizashi has plans.

Those plans didn't include anything special, but it meant meeting up as often as they could. Yamada was going on vacation with his family, he had offered to take Shouta with them, but he had declined, he had things to do at home.

"Are you sure?" "Yes." "None of them would complain!" "I'm sure." "I'm gonna be bored to death!" "Okay." Yamada takes his hand. "Shouta, are you sure you're gonna be okay?" "Yea." "If you aren't, I can-" "Shouta grips his hand reassuringly. "I can take care of myself." Then: "I'm going to help my dad. AND do all the things I can't do while you're here."

Yamada lets go, then throws his arm around Shouta's shoulders and grins at him. "Ne, ne, and what might that be?" "I have a part-time job," he deadpans. The other boy gasps and turns to stand in front of him. "You already got a job? My boyfriend is growing up to being such a great man!" Red in the face, he says "Shut up."

Hizashi smiles and takes a deep breath of the summer air and smiles that blindingly smile he always has. Shouta doesn't think he can ever get tired of it.

"Now, why did you really show up?" "Oh, yea, I need your help to pack!" "…Can't you do it yourself?" At Hizashi's silence he continues. "Doesn't your mother help you?" A shake of the head.

Shouta pushes him out of the way, starting to stomp down the street. His boyfriend is going to think he did something wrong, so after Shouta half-shouts _you're useless,_ he also waves for Yamada to follow after him.

(…)

He is over the first unbelievably big hurdle, now he just has to graduate Yuuei and become a hero. Then he will have proven himself. He knows that Yamada is going to help him, he hopes that they will be together for a long time, until, and after, Aizawa Shouta has proven that quirks aren't everything.


End file.
